Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is a profanity in many ways. Hard to accept that a man who delivered a gut-wrenching tale in Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam would churn out an erroneous depiction of eternal love with it’s leads primarily interested in locking lips instead of building a narrative of romance.
From a marketing perspective, Ram-Leela has been pitched merely on the merit of the sexual chemistry shared between Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone in the movie. No taking away from that; there is plenty of smooching and grabbing between these sexually charged dimwits. Right from the time they set eyes upon each other, until the last frame of the movie, all they are clearly interested in doing is having sex. The layers of emotional attraction and inevitable dependance are blatantly ignored.
Little attention is paid to finer details such as their unflinching attitude towards the knowledge of them belonging to opposing communities engaged in perennial war for the last 500 years. Or the fact that family members are being killed and targeted frequently.
Their relationship is based on lust and SLB dedicates little time towards building intensity in their passion. They are plunged into several testing circumstances only for their love to triumph amidst adversity. And due to the lack of investment in developing their connection, believing the strength of their relationship becomes a tough ask.
SLB doesn’t swerve from his routine of providing beautifully choreographed dance numbers. He splashes the canvas with vibrant colors and composes some melodious tracks. He also manages to extract strong performances from his leads. For once, Deepika is overshadowed by her male colleague. Ranveer is unabashedly flirtatious, rambunctious and exhibits a wide range of emotions. This, by far is his best performance till date, only reinstating the caliber unraveled by YRF.
There is little to celebrate apart from the superficial presentation that is designed to cover the mess beneath. At over two and a half hours in length, Ram-Leela is a test of patience, one which the cast clearly failed to pass, as they spend much of their time shooting bullets into the sky.
Rating – 1.5/5
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